A screen house experiment was carried out with Brassica juncea grown on artificially spiked soil (200 µg Pb g−1) with EDTA (2 mmol kg−1 in 5 split doses), farm yard manure (FYM), vermicompost (VC) and microbial inoculants (Azotobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp.) Results revealed that FYM and VC led to higher biomass production as compared to unamended soil. The bioinoculants also contributed in augmentation of biomass production but not significantly. The EDTA led to significant decrease in biomass as compared to FYM and VC. The Pb concentration increased significantly in Brassica juncea with the application of EDTA, the highest concentration of Pb being recorded in EDTA treatment. Among all the treatment combinations, EDTA and bio-inoculants combination led to higher uptake of Pb. The FYM and VC also increased uptake of Pb but much less than EDTA. The results indicated that EDTA in combination with bioinoculants was superior in enhancing the phytoextraction of Pb by Brassica juncea.

Early diagnosis of metastatic spinal disease is important because functional outcome depends on neurologic condition at the time of diagnosis. Epidural metastasis to the spine from Ewing's sarcoma is very uncommon. Despite the fact that epidural involvement has been described in a few cases of primary extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma, it is considerably rare. Metastatic epidural involvement secondary to Ewing's sarcoma is even rarer. With the rapid increase in the utilization and acceptance of PET/CT imaging in oncological practice, it is playing an ever-increasing role in detecting malignant spread to several unexpected sites. This report is, to the best of our knowledge, the first description of the PET/CT findings of this extremely rare entity.

Fixed flexion deformity is a sequel of burns and their release under anaesthesia pose difficulty during intubation. Various modalities are used for airway management in such cases. Here we present the successful airway manage-ment in a patient with post burn contracture who was managed with use of intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) introduced in reverse direction with 180 degrees rotation for insertion.

We as anaesthesiologist at times encounter patients with mandibular dystocias, and oral/oropharyngeal lesions for surgical management. Such patients pose a challenge for airway management and intubation and at times proce-dure may end with tracheostomy. The Macintosh curved blade laryngoscopy is gold standard for intubation. This technique may be technically flawed in conditions like vallecular cyst, tonsillar growth, mandibular dystocias and hemifacial microsmia. However the experience of otolaryngologists to visualize the glottis using a straight blade direct laryngoscope (Jackson type) in cases where anaesthesiologist fails, prompted us to use straight blade laryngoscope (Millers) for intubation. Here we describe, review and discuss an alternative technique of paraglossal straight blade intubation. We have tried this technique in five patients of difficult intubation and were able to avoid emergency cricothyrotomy and tracheostomy.

Patients of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) are difficult to intubate as a result of cervical spine rigidity; leading to inadequate extension of head and nonalignment of oral/pharyngeal and laryngeal planes. They are usually managed along the awake limb of difficult airway algorithm.

A series of chelating sorbents has been synthesized by the modification of resorcinol-formaldehde copolymer with different amounts ofNa-diethyldithiocarbamate. The obtained resorcinol-formaldehyde-diethyldithiocarbamate (RSD) sorbents have been characterized by elemental analysis, metal ion capacity and infrared spectroscopy. RFD 3 sorbent has been chosen for the detailed sorption studies owing to its highest metal-ion capacity. Distribution coefficients (K d ) of 17 metal ions have been determined in demineralised water, 0.1 mol L - 1 HNO 3 and buffer solutions (pH 2, 4 and 6). Since various metal-ions differed with respect to K d values, one achieved their speciation on small columns packed with RFD 3 sorbent. Its satisfactory selectivity towards Ag + , Zr 4 + and Hf 4 + has been utilised for the preconcentration and recovery of the ions.

A strain of Culex quinquefasciutus with European cytoplasm and Indian chromosomes, including a male‐linked translocation, was reared and males were released in two villages near Delhi which were surrounded by a 3‐km wide zone kept free of mosquito production by conventional larvicides. 5000‐40,000 males were released per day per village and this produced very high ratios of released to wild males. As a result of matings of wild females to released males up to 68% of the egg rafts laid in the villages showed cytoplasmic incompatibility (sterility) but, despite continued releases, the sterility rate plateaued and eventually declined. This can be partly explained by a decline in emergence of virgin females in the villages but it was concluded that immigration of already inseminated females must also have had an important influence. The trend in the wild adult female populations and the breeding in the release villages in comparison with untreated villages indicated that the releases produced partial population suppression.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEin Feldversuch zur Bekämpfung von Culex quinquefasciatus durch Freilassung von Männchen eines Stamms mit zytoplasmatischer Inkompatibilität und einer TranslokationEin Stamm von Culex quinquefasciatus mit europäischem Zytoplasma und indischen Chromosomen einschliesslich einer männchengebundenen Translo kation wurde gezüchtet; die Männchen wurden in zwei Dörfern nahe bei Delhi freigelassen. Die Dörfer waren von einer 3 km breiten Zone umgeben, welche mit konventionellen Larviziden von Mückenvermehrung freigehalten wurden. Die Männchen wurden in Mengen von 5000 bis 40.000 pro Tag und Dorf freigelassen, was ein sehr hohes Verhältnis freigelassene zu wilden Männchen ergab. Als ein Resultat der Kopulationen wilder Weibchen mit freigelassenen Männchen wiesen bis 68% der in den Dörfern abgelegten Eimassen zytoplasmatische Inkompatibilität (Sterilität) auf. Trotz fortgesetzten Freilassungen erreichte die Sterilität nur ein bestimmtes Niveau und nahm dann zum Teil wieder ab. Dieses Plateau kann teilweise erklärt werden durch eine Abnahme im Schlüpfen virgineller Weibchen in den Dörfern. Es muss angenommen werden, dass auch die Zuwanderung begatteter Weibchen einen wichtigen Einfluss hatte. Der Trend in den Populationen wilder adulter Weibchen und die Larvenentwicklung in den beiden Freilassungsdörfern im Vergleich zu unbehandelten Dörfern zeigten, dass die Freilassungen eine teilweise Populationsunterdrückung zur Folge hatten.